0:16

Welcome back to the Bittutor Advocate podcast

0:18

and I'm your host, Errol Parker. Today's

0:21

episode takes a unique turn as

0:23

I find myself flying solo without

0:25

my usual co-hosts, Clancy

0:28

or Wendell. He's off

0:30

in the Big Smoke in Charleville getting his first colonoscopy,

0:32

as you should when you're over 50. Stop

0:34

putting it off. And Wendell too has

0:37

gone within Wendell's done his knee again so he's

0:39

having that looked at. While

0:41

they're off on their own separate medical adventures,

0:43

I'm here to bring you an exclusive interview

0:45

about AFL, something I'm not very well versed

0:48

on but I'm hoping to learn something over

0:51

the course of this podcast. I'm talking

0:53

to the boys from They Might Be

0:55

Giants podcast. Joining

0:57

me today are two very talented

0:59

individuals. Alex Williams, an Australian actor

1:01

renowned for his versatile roles and

1:03

Brandon McClellan, a stage actor who

1:06

does television and film to keep the lights

1:08

on. Both very talented.

1:10

Alex is best known for his lead

1:12

roles as Julian Assange in Underground, the

1:15

Julian Assange story, while Brandon gained recognition

1:17

and a Logie nomination for his performance

1:19

as Pat Dooley in Anzac Girls. Alex's

1:23

journey from the northern suburbs of

1:25

Perth to becoming a

1:27

GWS Giants ambassador is a real

1:29

testament to his talent and dedication

1:31

to both his craft and his

1:33

love of footy. Meanwhile, Brandon's

1:35

roots trace back to Penrith, the

1:38

NRL heartland of New South Wales.

1:41

He spent some time in Dubbo, which is

1:43

the gateway to the Australian outback coming up

1:45

from Sydney before making his way to Bateman's

1:47

Bay, which is his long term home. He

1:50

honed his acting skills at NIDA and

1:52

he left in 2012 and ventured into

1:54

a successful career. I

1:56

think Alex went to WAPA. I

2:00

think that both of them are very esteemed

2:03

acting colleges. Nevertheless, Alex

2:05

and Brandon bring a really

2:07

unique blend of expertise and

2:09

passion to their podcast. They

2:11

might be giants as they explore the

2:14

vibrant culture of AFL, especially in Western

2:16

Sydney. So whether you're a

2:18

footy fan or like me, you know

2:20

of AFL and enjoy

2:23

watching it from time to time, but you don't really

2:25

know the rules. Alex

2:27

is going to tell us a little bit about footy

2:29

and why he likes it and Brandon is going to

2:31

tell us about what he's learnt so far. Either

2:34

way, I'm not going to get into this. So

2:37

boys, without further delay, let's uncover

2:39

the stories and experiences that make

2:41

Alex Williams and Brandon McClellan such

2:44

standout talents when it comes to

2:46

entertainment and footy culture. And

2:49

they're joining me in the studio today. Brandon and

2:51

Alex, welcome to the show. Thanks for having us.

2:53

Thank you for having us. Now,

2:56

the giants, Alex, you're the ambassador.

2:59

You take that role very seriously. Brandon,

3:01

you're more in my boat. I

3:05

am not from an AFL part

3:07

of the world. I'm not from an AFL

3:09

family. I didn't follow it growing up, but

3:12

it's always been there. It's always been a source of

3:14

interest for me. I've

3:17

always looked through the keyhole of

3:19

this great world to

3:21

the south where they have all of their

3:23

own slang, they have all

3:26

of their own customs. It

3:28

isn't sort of jealousy, but I understand you're

3:30

more or less in the same boat. I'm

3:32

100% in the same boat. No

3:35

rugby league family, no rugby league.

3:37

Enough rugby league. I'm talking no

3:40

AFL family, no kind of any

3:42

of that. No, I've always kind of

3:44

been a bit enchanted by it as well and

3:47

a bit kind of turned on by

3:49

it, I think. Really? Yeah,

3:51

yeah. A little bit. Something

3:53

about watching those AFL players run around the

3:55

field, gives me a little heart. It's certainly

3:57

a different body type. Yeah, 100%. lean

4:00

kind of like

4:03

whippet style compared to the A. I first

4:05

time I went to an NRL game was in

4:08

Perth and my dad grew up in Redfern

4:10

and whatnot and went for the Rabados. He

4:12

was like

4:14

we should go and watch you know they bring

4:16

over I think it was the Rabados and the

4:19

Broncos I'm pretty sure it would play in Perth

4:21

like once a year. That would make sense with

4:23

your father being there I guess. Son I'm going

4:25

to show you some quality

4:28

rugby league that brought the Tigers and the

4:30

Bulldogs over. They

4:33

brought it over and I remember going and seeing it

4:35

for the first time and the first time I heard

4:37

them run into each other like right in front of

4:39

me I was like oh no I'm not

4:41

playing that because I grew up like my dad

4:43

was an Olympic water polo player and a big

4:45

unit and he was like never

4:47

play never play rugby he was just like

4:49

don't do it one you're too small and

4:52

two you know it's just

4:54

not going to work for you and I remember going because

4:56

I tried out a lot of different sports you know I

4:59

played a season of lacrosse I played basketball

5:01

tennis everything and I was like

5:03

as soon as I saw one hit I

5:05

was like there's no way there's no way

5:07

in hell I'm ever ever going on one

5:09

of those fields. I was completely the opposite

5:12

I was like as soon as I had like

5:14

kind of grown into my body enough I could

5:16

not wait to run out there and be absolutely

5:18

smashed. There you go that

5:20

says something about the silver. I'm

5:23

a massive. So

5:26

let's talk about the Giants there

5:29

for those who are listening on the

5:31

tractors in regional parts of Queensland and

5:33

New South Wales it might not be

5:35

following the NFL as closely. The

5:38

Western Sydney Giants they jostle

5:41

for eyeballs in Western Sydney

5:43

you know that it's the

5:45

great cauldron of sport culture

5:48

and you know everything else there

5:50

is burgeoning. What

5:53

kind of space do the Giants

5:55

occupy in Western Sydney do you think.

5:58

Look I think it's definitely. when they

6:01

started and they decided to make this

6:04

team up in Western Sydney and get into

6:06

the market, I think there was definitely a

6:08

reaction from Victorians and

6:11

the other clubs that this was a

6:13

plastic club much like the Gold Coast

6:15

Suns. They had no history, they had

6:17

no kind of foothold in

6:19

the community and that was sort

6:21

of made obvious by

6:23

calling it the Greater Western

6:26

Sydney Giants which is basically

6:28

a Victorian term for political

6:30

like an area, West

6:33

of Newtown. Yeah pretty much but look

6:35

I think it's it's one of those

6:37

things it what the

6:39

AFL does really well is it does grassroots

6:41

really well and they have built up a

6:43

lot more kind of youth interaction, a lot

6:45

of clubs out there, they sort of you

6:48

know they do all that kind of stuff

6:50

really well and I think another part of

6:52

it that's been interesting on this

6:54

podcast that we're sort of learning is

6:57

that you know there are certain areas in

6:59

Western Sydney that it's like no you go

7:01

there and that's like a Bulldogs pub and

7:03

you watch you know like everyone yeah it's

7:05

kind of like it's like ASL

7:08

in Melbourne you know like they have those

7:10

defined areas but I guess

7:12

what Greater Western Sydney the Giants have

7:14

that the NRL kind of don't

7:17

is that they don't have you know a massive

7:19

competition out there you know you basically just got

7:21

to deal with the swans and

7:24

they can kind of just be

7:26

Ecuador and like you know

7:28

or any any any league fan that goes

7:30

for any of those Western Sydney teams can

7:32

have you know the Giants as their thing

7:34

to do on the other weekend. Yeah

7:36

it could be the one thing to unite all

7:38

the Western Sydney rugby league clubs. I doubt it.

7:41

Yeah probably not. So AFL

7:43

really is built on you know

7:45

these historic rivalries what's

7:47

the opinion of the swans out

7:49

West like how people like to think that the

7:52

demons in Melbourne you know for

7:54

the you know brown boot

7:56

wearing off you know jean

7:58

wearing young men. who

8:00

all have a certain membership, a

8:02

hereditary membership to a certain large

8:05

sporting ground. That's

8:07

sort of similar to people out west

8:10

viewing the swans? Can

8:12

you answer that? I know because when

8:15

I grew up, I grew up in Penrith

8:18

and then we moved to Dubbo and then

8:20

finally down to Batemans Bay. And

8:23

every single one of those places, no

8:27

one went for the swans. Even when

8:29

they were winning in like, what was it, 04 or

8:31

something like that? It just doesn't

8:33

feel like a team that has much... I

8:36

don't know. And it doesn't seem like a team that's

8:38

done much outreach past, you know, on the TV. Well,

8:40

they don't have to do that, no, because they're full

8:43

of all rich. They did in the early days. They

8:45

did in the early days. Oh yeah, sure they did.

8:48

It was the 90s in sort of with private

8:50

ownership. But it was a

8:52

bit of a mess. It's a relocation. We talked

8:54

about this on our podcast

8:56

about relocating and merges in teams

8:58

and how you lose

9:00

so much of your identity and your history there.

9:03

I mean, they try and connect to it, but

9:05

it's South Melbourne. It's a South Melbourne football club

9:07

that's on the back of their thing. Well, you

9:09

know, GWS is born. We're

9:12

born and bred. Yeah, born and bred. But

9:15

I think there is that thing with the Giants.

9:17

I know I found it a

9:19

little easier even when I wasn't watching the AFL,

9:21

but you want to be included in a conversation.

9:24

Oh yeah, yeah, I don't really watch it, but

9:26

I'd probably say the Giants and my team, because

9:28

it was kind of like the Western Sydney Wanderers.

9:30

I think as well, like the Swans, it's more

9:32

of a socialite club. They go to

9:34

games and it's a great atmosphere, but it's

9:38

very like we're here to chat

9:40

and take pictures. And I

9:42

do feel like it's got a bit of a

9:44

private school boy kind of feel to it in

9:46

that club. Yeah, it's a bit more Melbourne. It's

9:48

a bit more Melbourne, for sure. Yeah, yeah. It's

9:51

more of a social occasion.

9:53

I'd say so. Yeah. To

9:56

clip-clop your way down Oxford

9:58

Street in your... I hit a

10:00

bar in Paddington and then your RM Williams boots

10:02

have fresh out of the box. Two

10:07

measured scooters of Han premium dry.

10:09

I know that. Han super dry.

10:11

Do they serve freshers here? I'm

10:14

watching myself because I'm going to Valdezer in June.

10:18

So we're straight to the STC and then we'll watch the

10:21

swans up and catch them out now. We

10:23

can't do it. We're in the theatre

10:25

all the time. Getting my steps in

10:27

from Belvoir to the STG to the

10:30

Padau Inn. So

10:32

I'm taking, well look, out in

10:34

western Sydney there's not too much

10:36

walking down between places but... Absolutely

10:38

not. No, in the first

10:40

few couple episodes of your podcast you've put

10:43

out, I have noticed there is a bit

10:45

of a theme where you do like to

10:47

explore Australian tuscany.

10:50

That is... Yeah, that's what we've got.

10:53

In Sydney where you've gone out to

10:55

all the hills in the Hills District.

10:58

Most of it, yeah. And you've

11:00

gone to these different pubs where

11:02

these teams like to congregate. How

11:07

has that journey been, both of you, with you

11:09

being a somewhat local

11:12

there and for you Alex coming

11:14

over from our prosperous west? Well

11:17

I guess for me the whole concept of

11:19

the show is Brandon doesn't know anything about

11:21

AFL. I've

11:24

lived here for 10-12 years and I

11:26

know nothing about western Sydney really. You

11:29

know, I got into the inner west and

11:31

basically just stayed there. So it's a really

11:34

nice, you know, it's nice to

11:36

go out to these different kind of pubs

11:38

and check it out. Like we went to

11:40

Seven Hills the other day, this Silverwater Hotel.

11:43

Never been there before but got the little history

11:45

lesson before that one. There's a pub at Silverwater.

11:47

There is, yeah. Right on the river.

11:49

Right on the river. There's a right

11:52

on the river where water is silver.

11:54

Exactly. It's like gold. Yeah,

11:58

no, I've found it. But

12:00

people have been pretty welcoming

12:02

and embracing of it actually. I was

12:05

prepared when we first started kind of

12:07

reaching out to these kind of pubs

12:09

in, you know, particularly Western Sydney Heartland.

12:13

I thought there'd be a bit more pushback being

12:15

like, oh no, you'll never feel that blah, blah,

12:17

blah. Although there was the first one was like,

12:19

yeah, we'll see how many turn up. And

12:22

we ended up getting like 40, 50 people to that

12:24

one. But people

12:26

have been pretty good, but we are getting used

12:28

to the fact that there'll always be a couple

12:30

of the old regulars kind of like shuffling on

12:33

the outside of wherever we are, just being like,

12:35

what the fuck is going on? Swanting in and

12:37

out of the gaming room and being like, why

12:39

are these people cheering at soccer? You

12:42

know, you always get these old hands in

12:45

the Giants Club, you know, sort of, I'm

12:47

rusted on I've been here for 50

12:49

years before, 10 years when the Giants

12:51

were in the 1980s. I

12:54

was 34. I was

12:56

cheering on Dylan Buckley. I've been here.

13:00

One of the OG, the original Giants. I've been

13:02

here since you were in post-grad, mate. That's the

13:04

one you've been here for. But

13:07

no, look, so

13:09

what were your first impressions, Brandon? Because you

13:12

were saying that this is, you know, you

13:14

did go to your first AFL game, you

13:16

know. I did,

13:18

yeah. Talk us through that. I

13:20

mean, the first AFL game I

13:22

ever went to was Carlton versus

13:24

the Saints. And I was just,

13:27

I was left scratching my noodle at

13:29

that. I was like,

13:32

do people come to this glorious Coliseum

13:34

week in and week out and see 50

13:36

points get scored? Was it at the G?

13:39

Was it at the G? My word it was.

13:41

And they scored 50 points in the pissing rain.

13:43

But it was rain, though. Yes. It

13:45

was horizontal rain. I was like, I

13:48

had seen games of soccer. That

13:50

were more than thrilling. Higher scoring, yeah. Yeah,

13:52

but can you tell us about that first

13:54

game? Well, I've had the opposite because I've

13:57

only gone to see the Giants game so

13:59

far. And they were on an... Explosive. Yeah.

14:03

Exciting. Absolutely. But

14:05

they've been winning and winning pretty

14:07

big. So I haven't

14:10

seen any low scoring contests yet with the

14:12

Giants. Even when they lost, it was still

14:14

like they were one point off getting a

14:16

hundred. Now

14:19

I will say it's taken me a very, very,

14:21

very long time to figure out when a team

14:23

is safe or not as well. Because I see

14:26

20 points on the board and as a rugby

14:28

league fan, I go, well, you can put the

14:30

cue in the rack now. But

14:33

in AFL, that game can

14:35

change like within about a minute's

14:37

time. A 20 point lead

14:39

can be nothing. The kind of rule is

14:42

that in the last five minutes or so,

14:44

a team can score about

14:46

a goal a minute. Like if

14:48

they're really on a fire, it's about a goal

14:50

a minute. So you're not really safe unless you're

14:52

30 points up in the

14:55

last little... Yeah, it happened the other week with St

14:57

Kilda. They kicked the last seven goals. Oh

14:59

yeah, right. The goals at the end

15:01

of the game in that last quarter. Unheard of,

15:03

really. Well, well, for St Kilda, yeah. Yeah, for

15:06

St Kilda. It's interesting

15:08

hearing you talk about such a low scoring game

15:10

that you went to. I'd be interested because... It

15:12

was a couple of years ago. Yeah, well, in

15:14

the early 2010s, 2009, kind of afterwards, there was

15:16

a very much defensive game

15:20

style that was brought in by Ross Lyon. And

15:23

it did make AFL almost unwatchable

15:25

for quite a long time because

15:27

it was called... It was the

15:30

flooding era and it was just

15:32

insufferable to watch. But

15:34

recently, so sort of around 2016, 2017, a far

15:36

more offensive game has kind of come into

15:41

vogue and been far more... It's been

15:43

way easier to watch. It was in

15:46

about 2010 when the

15:48

Millennium Drought broke, really

15:50

for the big time. Yeah, right. How

15:53

it didn't really rain from essentially 9-11 to about 2009. That's

15:58

right. Yeah. It

16:00

to see you know you spend your

16:02

form of formative years in a Dos

16:04

Ball and you come down to Melbourne

16:07

the first time in your lives. On

16:09

as sideways Ryan in the middle of

16:11

July and and Amigos Miss Blue is

16:13

is is like. Common watched

16:15

by. Blues. Be

16:17

hopefully a great game. So he left

16:20

his lovely one pub in enrichment to

16:22

go was a window. The journalists I

16:24

just got rocks in your head man

16:26

you what my old I'll take it

16:28

or Cowboys' game in Townsville in either

16:30

this or that I brought for. To

16:32

add I ride my that's a proper

16:34

event at it yet from a moment

16:36

you ended in Erbil. That's. How

16:39

much time if you spent him in

16:41

Western Sydney? L a some and you

16:43

assign the that you hadn't spent too.

16:45

Much before of. What?

16:47

Were your impressions coming in? There

16:49

are men like obviously. it's kind

16:52

of similar said Perth space and

16:54

suburbs except politicians care about it.

16:56

I had this. Year

16:59

night his eyes off spin up at a

17:01

time out there and are the odds it's

17:03

is really a policy D Icon A Preferred

17:05

have been sworn in. The first thing that

17:07

struck me. system massive it is. You know,

17:09

like it is that the skyline it it's

17:11

humongous and and that I mean that's why

17:14

the giants you know or put their butts

17:16

off a me you know. The idea of

17:18

like going to Western Sydney on what is

17:20

what is that even mean it's it's so

17:22

diverse and and is so many different Harrys

17:25

I mean quite selfless self recently i'm I'm

17:27

I'm thinking with my stomach com that's kind

17:29

of for you know that we went to

17:31

the Buddha and beer with barely Western Sydney

17:34

but we're climbing at what are we went

17:36

to the Jonathan markets there and of assistant

17:38

to lox from and they're like and everywhere

17:40

that we've gone and sort of. Or.

17:43

Not you know, gonna the ramen and nine

17:45

markets and stuff like that like it's just

17:47

getting out and dumb kind of experiencing. You.

17:50

Know only different suburbs are completely different

17:53

and sort of gets lumped together and

17:55

but it's far more diverse an interesting

17:57

than you know in Newtown Mates you

17:59

know. Paddington. It's pretty much the same

18:01

thing once you get out of the East. I'd

18:05

never really been introduced to

18:07

the concept of Western Sydney

18:09

though until really quite recently.

18:12

I know it's a term

18:14

that's been around for ages

18:16

but growing up you'd never

18:18

call Penrith Sydney. It was

18:20

its own city. Same with

18:22

Parramatta. Parramatta wasn't part of Sydney. It was its

18:24

own thing because they're far enough away. Can you

18:26

read the same thing? Yeah. I think

18:30

that's pretty common. When I

18:32

would think of Sydney I'd always

18:35

think Ugly Bridge and Opera House

18:37

and completely pointless tower.

18:40

Those are the things that would come

18:42

to mind. Genuinely one of the stupidest

18:44

pieces of architecture in the world. When

18:48

I first came to Sydney, when I first

18:50

came from Perth, the first place someone took

18:52

me was the restaurant at Centre Point Tower.

18:55

I went, God, does it get

18:57

bigger than this? No,

19:00

for me, I'd seen the one in Canberra

19:02

before because we used to say Canberra for

19:04

holidays. That's a lazy season, mate. That's not

19:06

a tower. Oh, that one. Oh, yeah.

19:09

It would have been the mountain. The Black Mountain Tower.

19:11

Yeah. I'd always thought that Centre

19:13

Point Tower was a rip-off of

19:15

Black Tower but it was just a copy. Yeah,

19:18

well, they have them all over the world

19:20

though. I mean, it just goes to

19:23

show how opulent the 80s were. Oh,

19:26

God, yeah. Just like, oh, we have

19:28

got too much money. What should we do? Build

19:30

an observation deck that serves no purpose. A light

19:32

rail. Yeah, let's

19:34

make everything this weird kind of

19:36

gold champagne-coloured concrete. Sparkling

19:39

beige. So

19:42

tell us about your relationship

19:44

with the Giants. I mean, this

19:46

podcast is, you know, kind

19:49

of done with their blessing.

19:52

How have they been to deal with? Yeah,

19:54

they've been great. So I started following the Giants because

19:56

I moved from Perth to Sydney the year they started

19:58

and I was an 8-year-old. I fell fan but didn't

20:00

really have a team that I cared about just picked

20:02

one of the Victorian ones that I like that colors

20:05

of As a kid and

20:07

I was like well, that's not doing it for

20:09

me. So when I moved there to Sydney I

20:11

was like, this is great. I can go to

20:13

games every second weekend and It's

20:15

a bit of fun and to be honest So this

20:17

first that first little while you know while I

20:19

was acting and move, you know acting that you

20:21

move around a fair bit I just found it

20:23

really enjoyable to you know Just constantly

20:25

live tweet the games and

20:27

and you know come up with nonsense and and

20:29

that one Twitter was fun Yeah back when Twitter

20:32

was fun And they kind

20:34

of enjoyed that and it really just grew honestly

20:36

from from from that and then you know Obviously

20:38

you get a few more TV gigs and they

20:40

invite you to a few games and whatnot and

20:43

it sort of built up I started doing some I Sort

20:46

of doing like a series for them called the

20:48

one I giant which is like, you know postgame

20:50

Rapper and then I kind

20:52

of just Yeah, it's sort of

20:55

just growing through that and then with this podcast, you know that

20:57

they were more than happy for me to You

20:59

know golf and and do this and review

21:01

things Evenhandedly. Oh,

21:03

yes. So now it's

21:06

been great I mean the fun thing with them is

21:08

their social media and then Being

21:10

in kind of new club and a emerging

21:12

market. They've got to do things differently

21:15

They're not a heritage club that's gonna

21:17

just you know, gain followers by them

21:20

breeding Yeah, so they're

21:22

allowed to break rules. They are and it's

21:24

more fun. That's just kind of more fun

21:26

So yeah, it's been a great experience I

21:29

mean they're fun people to work with and

21:31

and and they give way more access because

21:33

you know They don't have

21:35

as much support as those. Yeah bigger

21:37

clubs. So You get kind

21:40

of bang for your buck Yeah,

21:42

that's what skin off there knows, you know what I mean, yeah,

21:45

it all helps I guess if you know If the

21:47

podcast tanks, I don't think they'll care There's

21:52

no skin in the game exactly super for them

21:54

so but it's good, you know like people coming

21:56

out to these live events of you know 3x4

22:00

reps into our podcast and getting 70

22:02

people the other night at

22:04

a parball cheering it on and getting into

22:06

it. It's

22:09

just a really fun community.

22:12

It feels like a big country club really when

22:15

it comes down to it. I

22:17

think that's been a bit of a guiding

22:19

philosophy for us as well. We're

22:22

not doing a function for Scott's

22:25

College. It

22:27

does have that thing of bring the family,

22:29

bring the kids, we've got the big screen

22:31

on and kind of mill around. Everyone's beers,

22:33

soft drinks, a bit of dinner, do a

22:35

little chook raffle. Just

22:38

bringing a bit of that kind of

22:40

like, just a bit of Aussie family

22:43

fun. Yeah. Well,

22:45

you're still quite early on in

22:47

your journey. I am. You know, I feel.

22:51

What about this game have you

22:53

found really enjoyable?

22:55

I mean, like I'm talking

22:57

about, you know, the mechanics of

23:00

watching it. Like have you got your AFL yet?

23:03

No, I definitely know. I've got very

23:05

little idea what's going on. I'm picking

23:07

it up. I feel like I'm doing

23:09

like a section of the field, you

23:11

know, every couple of months now. I

23:13

feel like I've kind of figured out

23:15

what the forwards do. The

23:17

midfield is still a mystery to me, but

23:19

I can tell that that's exactly where a

23:21

game is made or broken. But

23:25

the thing I'm loving about it is kind

23:27

of just the sheer athleticism

23:29

of it. Like they are,

23:32

you know, watching rugby league, you kind of

23:34

hold out for those incredible moments where you've

23:36

got like Saab floating over the sideline, you

23:38

know, and it's like, oh, the acrobatics of

23:40

it. Upside down inverted

23:42

handout. But

23:46

in AFL, that's every play,

23:49

you know what I mean? And I think that's,

23:51

you know, the difference between the tackling styles as

23:53

well. It's

23:55

taken me a very long time not

23:58

to instinctively want to call out. knock

24:00

on. Every time I see someone drop

24:02

a ball, I'm like, well, that's not

24:04

control. Just

24:08

traveling. And every

24:10

every time like the crowd calls out

24:12

ball at an AFL game. Yeah. I'm

24:14

like, yeah, well done. There's been one

24:16

on the field, the whole game. Now,

24:19

I interpret ball

24:21

as like that was

24:24

you put that ball in the right spot. That

24:26

was great. All like, all

24:28

like, ball, my boy, you bought it. Oh,

24:30

right. Right. Right. Like great ball ball. It's

24:33

a short for great ball. That

24:35

makes sense. Yeah. Well, like kind of like in cricket. Yeah.

24:38

Great ball. Good ball. Good ball. Good ball.

24:40

Yeah. That's the opposite. Yeah, completely

24:43

the opposite. Really? Yeah. Well, they're

24:45

yelling out. They're yelling out ball

24:48

to appeal for holding the ball when when

24:50

a player could have gotten rid of it

24:52

and it's been tackled. They're going ball, ball.

24:54

Give us that ball. Yeah, I still don't

24:56

understand why they're saying it, though. It just

24:59

feels like something that people just jump on

25:01

about. And the umpires understand why they're doing

25:03

it. What about you, Alex? What about this

25:05

game? Do you really love? I've

25:07

always enjoyed it, you know, just as a as a

25:09

spectacle. I like the pace of it. I like as

25:12

well. I think growing up, what I

25:14

really liked about it is there's so many

25:16

different body types that work as

25:18

far as you can. Like there's a bunch of

25:20

players now that are like five foot six, five

25:22

foot seven that are just super, super skilled. And

25:25

it does look like a game that was made

25:27

for a village. Yeah, exactly. Where,

25:29

you know, it looks like, you know,

25:31

there's a position for the butcher. Everyone

25:34

gets a go. A position for the

25:36

baker. There's a position for the farmer's

25:39

very agile quicksun

25:42

with long femurs and long arms. You know,

25:44

like, yeah, it really seems like there's something

25:46

for everyone. I guess I growing up, you

25:48

know, playing basketball and my dad was six

25:50

three and I was constantly going like, I'll

25:53

get there. I'll get there. Didn't get your

25:55

dad six and a unit. And so

25:58

just like, yeah, I didn't. Didn't

26:00

get that genetics but he... You're

26:02

a short king. Yeah, thanks. Thanks.

26:07

But yeah, like I guess, you know, you got to

26:09

a certain point with basketball and you're going like, jeez,

26:11

if I don't grow here, I'm in a lot of

26:13

trouble. And I guess in AFL,

26:15

yeah, there's just... You could be Scotty Pippen. He's

26:17

quite short, isn't he? Yeah. I couldn't tell you

26:20

that. I couldn't tell you why I just turned that name

26:22

and it made me think of Pippen from... You get the

26:24

tall guys, you get the big guys. There's just kind of

26:26

a bit of the fast...

26:28

You can kind of mould anybody

26:30

to work in the game and it's just

26:33

fast. I mean, it's basketball with contact, 360.

26:37

Yeah. And there is

26:39

an element of when traveling to Melbourne

26:41

and watching kind of big games, it's

26:44

unlike last year when to Carlton,

26:46

Sydney before the Giants played.

26:50

And when you have 98,000 people at the MCG, it's just ridiculous.

26:57

Like it's massive, very different to

26:59

our experience of Boutique Stadium, you

27:01

know, Western Sydney. It's not huge.

27:04

But when you're in that... It's a show-goer.

27:06

Yeah. It is, yeah. Yeah.

27:09

But yeah, I don't know. I've just always enjoyed

27:11

the game. I think it's kind of the perfect

27:13

mix of kind of strength, pace

27:16

and skill. How did you view a

27:19

game like Rugby League though when you

27:21

were growing up? Obviously you had your father who

27:23

was an avid bunny, but like...

27:25

He barely watched it. I think he just

27:27

wanted to... I've given him too much credit

27:29

there. Yeah, way too much. But just looking

27:32

through like, you know, a young AFL fan's

27:34

eyes, you know. What were your

27:36

impressions of League? My impressions of League was one

27:38

that we didn't, you know, Perth didn't have a

27:41

team. Anymore. Anymore, because since

27:43

the Reds went. Since the Reds. And

27:45

there was the fourth, there was the Western Four.

27:47

One, I was just trying to figure out... Union.

27:49

Yeah, that's Union. One was just trying to figure

27:51

out what the difference was. Rugby Jonions. You were

27:53

Jonions. And yeah,

27:56

I always kind of looked at it through the lens that I

27:59

looked at skating. You know, my friends who

28:01

like skating, which I just like wheels, a lot

28:03

of concrete and corners. It's just a like a

28:05

lot of opportunities to get injured. And I always looked

28:07

at League like that. I was just like, oh,

28:09

yeah, my body's not built for that. And

28:11

I always looked at like I liked watching sports that I thought

28:13

I could play on some level as a

28:15

kid. Yeah. And I kind of went, nah,

28:20

not a chance, you know, and

28:22

like I'm impressed by

28:24

it. Like now going and watching a game,

28:26

I'm very impressed by it. I

28:29

guess for me, as I was saying

28:31

to you the other day, you know,

28:34

like also those those 90s retro guenties.

28:36

I'm just kind of obsessed with those.

28:38

I'm like, I just looking at the looking

28:40

at which one I'm going to buy. Bring back the

28:42

color on. Yeah, I love the colors on the jerseys.

28:44

I like that kind of that

28:47

history I really enjoy in a game. So,

28:49

yeah, to be honest with you, I haven't

28:51

watched a lot of League. No, I actually

28:53

was watching some old AFL

28:56

games the other day just in a rain break.

28:59

You only went to the AFL when it's raining?

29:01

Is this the somewhat? Yeah, there is

29:04

a trend emerging. But I

29:06

was watching like like an old AFL

29:08

state of origin game. Oh, yeah. I

29:10

mean, yeah. Look, I didn't

29:12

know until that point that they existed.

29:15

I think it was before rugby had

29:17

status. No. Yeah. I think it was.

29:22

We've had the pre AFL. I

29:26

would have been. I think they'd like to

29:28

have mania played in it. Where the historians

29:30

played in it. And then the big V

29:32

and then the Victorians absolutely fucked over the

29:34

West Coast Eagles to form the AFL. Yeah.

29:37

So I've been told essentially that

29:39

you can pay to play by

29:41

a very tall drummer

29:44

from Perth to tell me things

29:46

about the Eagles. I

29:49

didn't want to know. But yeah,

29:51

that looks so I think that's

29:53

stop. Hey, I'm just a little.

29:55

Quite a while ago, basically, because

29:57

the club was, you know, that

29:59

place. just kept getting injured and they

30:01

went well it's gonna muck up our...

30:05

Your rosters. Our rosters and they

30:07

just can't do it. But yeah they

30:09

did State of Origin for quite

30:12

some time and they've been...

30:15

There's been calls to bring it back so when

30:18

the bushfires happened a couple of years ago

30:20

they brought back, they did one,

30:23

the allies versus Victoria and they did like

30:25

an exhibition game and it was incredible. There

30:27

was a crazy goal in there that was

30:29

kicked by a Victorian, what's his

30:31

name, he kicked it off the

30:34

side of his boot and it went... I

30:36

think it certainly

30:39

was not Peter Hellyer but like... I

30:42

was thinking about the celebrity

30:44

games. Oh yeah, that's a celebrity

30:46

game. They

30:49

did that for a long time as well and

30:51

just the amount of hamstrings. Just

30:54

actors popping their hammy's. That's

30:56

certainly one thing that you can't do in

30:58

Rugby League is have... It's a celebrity game.

31:01

No. Because it's like...

31:03

You could play, Brandon Chiles. No, I wouldn't. Who would...

31:06

What position did you play? No. Well

31:08

I started as a halfback and then

31:10

moved towards fullback at

31:12

the end of high school. It means nothing to

31:15

me but sure. I mean like you'd have things

31:17

like Kyle

31:19

Sandlin's getting spear

31:22

tackled into the cricket pitch by the Bondi

31:24

vet. To

31:26

be honest, I would just... Definitely watch

31:29

that. It would have to be Oztag. They should

31:31

do it before Origin. They should

31:33

bring in a... They should do

31:35

it networks. Heroes and Heroes versus Nine networks.

31:38

Those exhibition games, they're always

31:40

so welcome. I mean like

31:42

we had... After

31:46

the Bushfires, after the Boxing Day Tsunami,

31:48

we had all those exhibition cricket games

31:51

that I had... Oh yeah, we did

31:53

too. Ricky Ponting come back

31:55

and they did all these fun things like

31:57

Adam Gilchrist had a bowl. Yeah,

32:00

you know all of these really strange

32:02

quirky things that you know really die

32:05

hard fans wait to see

32:07

I mean like there I mean if

32:09

you were to say, you know Adam Gilchrist

32:11

is gonna bolt some medium paces

32:14

at VVS Laxman That

32:17

would make any cricket fan around the

32:19

world tuning tuning into that. Yeah, sure

32:22

First I'm not a big cricket fan. So a lot of

32:24

that. I know who Gilchrist is of course

32:27

They'll start just doing AI versions of

32:29

them. I reckon we're like you'll see

32:31

Michael Clark bowling to Bradman or himself

32:33

It's nothing like that. Oh Aside

32:38

from all the war that's obviously coming in

32:40

the future. That's one part of the future

32:42

that I am very keen

32:45

to Experience is that hopefully

32:47

one day we can pick our own games

32:49

and just plug in to

32:52

the matrix and I can go to the MCG

32:54

on Boxing Day and watch Peter

32:57

Helya Watch

33:02

Jeff Thompson come around the wicket to Don

33:04

Bradman and hit him in the baggy green

33:06

a few times You know like from the

33:08

safety of your fall out No,

33:11

but so moving forward as we get into the

33:13

back end of the season, where do you hope

33:16

the Giants will be? I mean, could you see

33:18

them? Possibly making a charge

33:20

in September. Look, I don't know how much you

33:22

know About last year

33:24

or AFL in general, but like last year

33:26

we were terrible for the first 11 rounds

33:29

Yes, and then we came home Very

33:31

strong. I think we ended up winning like nine

33:34

in a row And then we

33:36

got within a point of the grand final. Yes so

33:40

Look, I think we're still like Markets

33:44

go like whether we're premiership favorite at the

33:46

moment, which is kind of crazy But

33:49

um, yeah, I think it's I

33:51

think we're a chance to go pretty deep in

33:53

September I wouldn't say premiership. We're looking at like

33:55

a maiden premiership. I've never won before There's only

33:57

two clubs that haven't won a premiership on there

34:00

There's the giant... No, there's more than that.

34:02

And the suns. And Fremantle's never won one?

34:04

Fremantle's never won one. All

34:07

those poor Fremantle hips. Oh, yeah. What are they

34:09

going to do? Get by some shoes. I

34:13

think, yeah, I think that's all

34:15

of the clubs, but like those are including

34:17

VFL kind of. Sure.

34:19

Yeah. So clubs like St. Kilda and stuff like

34:21

that have never won an AFL. So

34:23

like in the NRL, how they say

34:26

that the Dragons have won... Oh,

34:28

yeah. 12 in a row or whatever. You

34:30

can't have like 16 or 17, you know, premiership. You're

34:34

like, you don't. You've got none. Can

34:37

you never won one in the AFL? They're

34:40

thinking first on the table a few times

34:42

early on in the season. Yeah, on their

34:45

first at the moment. J'Long?

34:48

Carlton. Oh, I thought J'Long were. Oh,

34:50

no, you're totally right. Yeah. Of course.

34:53

I know. I thought I might. I don't know much, but

34:55

I know that much. Brandon's clearly

34:58

already overtaken me as the expert.

35:02

Well, boys, thank you for making it all the way up here to

35:04

Bitz Yeah.

35:24

I call. We're calling it charcoal. Orange will do that. You

35:27

can just wear high vis to the game. Just

35:30

like an Indian minor bird. I

35:32

guess. Yeah.

35:34

I got orange. Or

35:40

a trodden on pigeon. Yeah. I know. Anytime

35:43

you want to come to a game, we'll sort it out.

35:45

Come out to an Indian

35:48

stadium. And we'll they change their

35:50

names so often. Don't know all

35:52

the time. Spotless spotless. Yeah.

35:54

Who's that? I know that that the

35:56

Cowboys. No, that's a Queensland. But listen,

35:58

I think Cowboys. It was the

36:00

giant stadium. It was called Spudges for a while. That

36:03

used to be 1300 Smile Stadium. Oh,

36:05

that's right. It did too. But before

36:08

that it was dairy farmers. What's the one

36:10

that gets me in the States? It's called

36:12

the Smoothie King Center. Every

36:14

time. In New Orleans. Yeah.

36:18

Thanks boys. Thanks very much. Thank

36:30

you.